PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT & MEDITATION TECHNIQUES

[Dale Seago]

M'kay, I never said Brian was a MEMBER I said he was A PART of the Bujinkan. . .

All right, Rina, let's look at this. "Bujinkan" is a word implying an organization -- that's the "kan" part of it. Bujinkan is the name Hatsumi sensei has given to his training organization. Like many organizations, the Bujinkan has some specific rules about membership -- about who is or is not part of the organization -- which are issued directly by Hatsumi sensei, the head of the Bujinkan. In fact, you can read the main ones here: http://www.universal-ninja.com/bujin...idelines.shtml

I'd like to direct your attention to #6:

6. All those joining the Bujinkan must get an annual membership card. This card not only preserves the honor of the Bujinkan members, it indicates you are part of a larger whole--one whose members come together with warrior hearts to better themselves through training and friendship. It evinces the glory of warrior virtue, and embodies both loyalty and brotherly love.

Since Mr. McCarthy made his own separation from the Bujinkan very clear in his resignation letter, I don't see how you can claim that he -- or you -- are "a part of the Bujinkan":

November 1993

Dear Sensei,

It is with great sadness that I write this letter to you. I have decided after much thought to remove myself and my organization from the Bujinkan International. I would like to explain my reasons for this action. For many years I have been disturbed by the way Ninpo Taijutsu has been taught in the west. The standard of teaching and instructors is generally bad. Some Blackbelts are motivated only by status and money, which results in students not receiving the benefits of a real martial art. These people have been graded by yourself and therefore believe what they do is correct.

When I first met you in America you apologized for the bad martial arts which had come from Japan. I was impressed by your honesty and your integrity. It was then I decided to follow your way. Unfortunately many things have changed during the intervening years. I can no longer justify to my students and other martial artists why a person who has trained in Ninjutsu only two years and be 20 years old holds a high ranking dan grade. This has become common practice around the world. I cannot justify why dan grades are given away to people who don't have the spirit of Ninjutsu in their hearts or the "Taijutsu" of Ninpo in their bodies. I cannot accept the high grading fees that people have to pay without first learning the basics of our art in a dojo. This I believe was the great failure of Tai-Kais. There are many more reasons and examples that I could write about, but I feel this would only serve to damage our art even further.

When you graded me to Shodan and gave me my painting I formed the Bujinkan Brian Dojo to support and promote your way of training as you received it from Takamatsu Sensei. When I graded to Godan I passed my Sakki test on the first attempt. All the students that I brought to you also passed on the first attempt. Now people are allowed many opportunities and are continually struck. This is no longer an example of Sakki.

I went to Japan in 1991 to speak with you and try to understand what your intentions were. At that time I expressed my concerns and asked for your advice. The only answer I received was "not to worry" and to continue what I was doing. I have waited since then to see a change in the Bujinkan so we could become what we were meant to be. This unfortunately has not happened. It is now time for me to take my students on the path of what I believe is the true way of teaching martial arts. This I believe should begin with honesty and end with respect.

No doubt that I have made mistakes and upset some people by the way I teach, however I have always sought to give my students what they deserve in helping them in this life. I have always protected them and defended our right to practice the real arts without commercialism and greed. I will continue in the future as I have been in the past. I maintain my personal affection and respect for you and am saddened by what the Western World has influenced the Bujinkan to become.

The BBD will continue to practice Ninpo Taijutsu as an independent organization in all the countries where we have strong dojos and good students. I have earned the right to teach and influence people by showing them that ninpo still exists and will continue to grow. I have always acknowledged you as my teacher and I will continue to do so on a personal level. I am grateful for what you taught me in the past and for the respect and esteem which you afforded me . I regret that our relationship will end but I must put being honest to myself and my students before all else. I have the support of all my blackbelts and students in writing this letter.

In closing, on a personal level I with you and your wife Mariko good health and peace. Maybe in a future life we can train together again.

Sincerely,


B.M. McCarthy.
Hachidan
Bujinkan Ninpo Taijutsu

As for your comment,

. . .and BBD - Bujinkan Brain Dojo, the name kind of implies that...snortI can't be bothered with you people and all the arguments.
Its not what Ninjustu is about.

All it implies is that he continues to misuse the name of the Bujinkan.

[Don Roley]

Dale,
It seems that McCarthy has edited his resignation letter.

I remember when we were discussing the matter on the Ninpo-L list many moons ago. The letter you posted is far different from what I remember. The letter that was on his site caused everyone with experience in Japan like Regina and I to gape at just how rude it was. Everyone who read it came away with the same type of impression that Wayne L. Roy's letter gave. The above letter is not the same.

The original letter basically had the theme of "everyone else in the Bujinkan sucks except for me" and took Hatsumi to task for promoting people that were not qualified (In McCarthy's opinion.) I really remember him talking about other people's rank and how they were not qualified for it. But that is missing from the above letter. Of course, McCarthy believed that he was not over- ranked.

I could put it off to a failing memory except for the fact that I remember that in trying to distinguish himself from all the people he thought were not as good as him, he mentioned that he had recieved the Golden Dragon award from Hatsumi. I checked the letter twice and cannot find a mention of it in the modern version.

Is there a way to check the Ninpo-L archives and see if maybe someone posted the letter to the list instead of just a URL? I am sure that McCarthy has edited it to take out all the stuff that made people view him with contempt.

[Dale Seago]

That's very interesting. The version I quoted is the only one I can find on the web. The ninpo-l archives are accessible, but not easily searchable.

I only saw Brian McCarthy once in person, in 1986 at the US Tai Kai; was quite struck by how stiff and karate-like his movement was. I'd hope he got better between then and the time he left.

[Martin]

Is it just me or do things generally get ugly when the topics of ninjutsu and the like come up?

Please insert further flames and conspiracies below.

[Don Roley]

Is it just me or do things generally get ugly when the topics of ninjutsu and the like come up?

Well, there are a lot of frauds hiding behind the idea that they can advertise on the internet where millions of people can see what they claim, but claim the excuse of secrecy to refuse to back up their claims when called on the carpet.

But actually, my worst experience with internet martial artists has been with my investigation into Korean martial arts. Do a search of Budoseek of the name "Jack Stern" to try to get a handle on the story behind how one guy managed to get banned off of three seperate forums, including this one. You won't even find the stuff he tried to do to me with my work, but you can tell (if you check) just how much he hated being exposed and can imagine just how petty he could be based on what he wrote here, on e-budo and on Martialtalk.com.

[chrismoon]

Ladies and gents,



What training I received myself was under Mr Noriyuki Shadoshite, who was a member of the Japanese Mission to Australia, and an instructor in Bitchu-den Kumogakureryu (the branch of the Kumogakureryu under the authority of Kenji Nobusato Tonbe, Kancho). I trained with him for a short four years, synthesied what I learned, and taught under my own authority (hence the founding of the Kigakushiryu).



Ian

I just noticed this tonight and I wanted to comment on it. There is only one ryu in Japan that I am aware that has a Bitchu-Den and that is Takenouchi Ryu. If there are any doubts as to what I say then Wayne Muromoto would be a good guy to ask seeing as how he is a senior member of Bitchu-den Takenouchi Ryu under Ono Yotaro, KANCHO!
Bitchu-den refers to Bitchu province next to Mimasaka (Okayama) of the old days when there was a split within Takenouchi Ryu after the 3rd headmaster and the line developed a branch in Bitchu. There are currently three main lines of Takenouchi Ryu, the soke line, the sodenke line, and Bitchu line. Not too mention countless offshoots and schools with close connections including Takagi Yoshin Ryu of the Bujinkan.

Don, me thinks this guy Ian tried to pull a fast one and assumed no one on this board would be familiar with Bitchu-den. I am guessing he had gotten his hands on an issue of Furyu in the past.

christopher moon

[Don Roley]

Don, me thinks this guy Ian tried to pull a fast one and assumed no one on this board would be familiar with Bitchu-den. I am guessing he had gotten his hands on an issue of Furyu in the past.

Most likely. It fits all the patterns of frauds I have seen. They take a little from here, a word from there, etc and try to pass it all off as new material. Ian has nothing that he can point us to for independent proof, there is nothing in Japan to back up what he says and his story has been poked full of holes in this thread. Again, nothing to differentiate between him and the many, many other frauds out there in the martial art world.

[voodo_man_72]

I was searching the internet for an old ninjutsu school I studied with in the late 1980's & early 1990's and I wasn’t shocked what I came across.

Kigakushi Ryu Ninpo as he referred to it was a ninjutsu school that operated in Toowoomba QLD Australia behind the old range hotel. I moved from Brisbane where I studied under Wayne Roy and was introduced to this school by one of Ian's students.

Ian was a real FIGJAM (**** I'm good, just ask me) with a huge ego to go with it (typical Volvo driver) claiming to be a 2nd Dan black belt in ninjutsu. At times he would walk along the streets in Toowoomba dressed in his ninjutsu outfit. At first I thought it was all strange, but being in Toowoomba there wasn't really much else being offered.

Ian’s method of training was really dangerous, always requiring students to use real swords in class (short katana version, not ninja-to saying this was the real sword of the ninja). Making students do dive roles over swords, through doorways onto hard rock wooden floors, backwards break falls out of trees & off high fences, jumping of cliffs onto trees? He claimed this was the real way of ninjutsu teaching. If we didn’t want to do it we would get kicked out of the dojo.

He claimed his style was linked to the kamakure ryu (spelling???) of the bujinkan and he trained with this Japanese teacher from Brisbane, but other members claim it was this western guy, a break off from Wayne Roy who had a school in Strathpine Brisbane North. I remember this time Ian was teaching us lock picking and latter that week 3 students from our school got caught dressed up in ninja out fits picking locks to peoples houses by the police and later we got a visit that Friday training night at the dojo.

Another case I remember was this guy from some martial arts school, I think it was from Bob Jones mob came to our school one night and latter challenged Ian. But now that I am older, more mature and smarter, I realise now he was nothing more then a guy who lived in a fantasy world.

The grading system, the black belts they wore, their badges and the whole story of his club are all BS, just a mentally ill man who watched too many ninja movies and lived in a fantasy world, like a religious cult he was tricking others like myself who didn't really know enough to know better.

I wish I knew where he was now so I could sue him for the back injuries I now suffer as a result of my training with him (to which other member I still know of all suffer too) that make my life a living hell.

That sad reality is, I should have known better, but I didn’t and this readers is the result of training with frauds. So my advise to you, before you train, get advice or check their claims, because today we have the internet & means to so, as back then we didn’t.

[Don Roley]

I wish I knew where he was now so I could sue him for the back injuries I now suffer as a result of my training with him (to which other member I still know of all suffer too) that make my life a living hell.

I dislike frauds because they lie. And I dislike them because the fill the world with their mistaken impressions and poison the information sources out there. We spend a lot of time shooting down the silly things they spread and many people believe.

But the above is one big reason why I just do not listen to the people who say that we should be 'above' exposing fruads and be concerned that we do not look good arguing with them.

There are enough injuries from legitimate teachers. But frauds seem to have a variety of mental problems. They are the ones to do the stupid things and not be able to admit they were wrong. "As long as the students are happy, why not keep silent" I hear. It is not like I go out to meet them and beat the teacher up with a 2x4. I am only stating the facts and letting potential students know the whole story.

But these students, happy with their teacher, are the most likely to end up like the above story. It just seems wrong to remain silent and let them blindly risk the same because you are worried that people will think less of you.